Sing Out If You Want To Be Free!!! Updated Version
We are now going on year 8 and man the time really flies by. During this time when the world seems to have gone crazy, we are still blessed to be living in little Cotacachi. So yes we are still singing out that we are free!
I hope you will click on the play button to listen to my theme songs this month by Cat Stevens and Pharrell Williams.
October 2016 marks our third year living in the little town of Cotacachi, Ecuador nestled in the Andes. Sometimes, I wonder how did we get here? It all started with losing my job of 29 years as a nurse due to what was described as reorganization. Sound familiar? My career was dedicated to hard work and really no free time. So upon losing my job we decided it was time to look for other opportunities and restart our life. This was kind of like our last adventure. We were seeking somewhere we could actually afford to live and have a good life. First, we tried Costa Rica but it was just not a fit for us.
We were lured to Ecuador through International Living. But we had always dreamed of living on the coast. Somehow almost magical as if by divine intervention we came to little Cotacachi, Ecuador. I know it will sound strange but it is almost as if we were “called” to be here. Funny but other friends in Cotacachi say the same thing. I am not sure why we are here but time will reveal why we were chosen to live here. Now as the song goes I Thank God For Unanswered Prayers. If I had stayed at my career job I would have lost out on the adventure and new friends of a lifetime! I would have never even tried to learn Spanish even though we lived in Texas. The following slide show is called simply Me during the past three years of discovering a stress-free rewarding life with new like-minded friends from across the globe.
Yes, most of my friends back home thought we had lost our minds moving to Ecuador. We were lucky that all of our children supported our decision to move. But I am so thankful for no longer playing the corporate old game and off the merry-go-round of our previous life. No more being attached to a telephone 24-7 and that sinking feeling when it started ringing after business hours. No more budget meetings lasting until 3 am in the morning. No more dashboard dining for a quick lunch escapes from the office before I was missed.
As Mel Gibson screamed in Brave Heart ” Freedom”. We can actually afford to retire in Ecuador instead of continuing to work just to live and get by. So we walk everywhere with no need to own a car with an added benefit of a built-in walking exercise program. I am off of all my previous medications and have lost weight. Where we live no air conditioning or heating is needed. You pay cash for your home so no house payments. The annual taxes on our home is less than $60 a year. Talk about downsizing our cost of living. Now we live to live and not live to work.
ME
Please click on the little square boxes to view the slide show. Enjoy!
Hugs to family & friends!
